Location: Howth, Fingal County Map
Constructed: 14th century
Howth Castle is a medieval complex situated in Howth, Fingal County in Ireland. Howth Castle was constructed in 14th century.
The Legend of Howth Castle
There is a popular legend about Howth Castle. Legend has it of a
case that happened in 1576 during a trip to Dublin by the Queen of
Pirates, Grinne O'Malley. She paid a courtesy visit to Baron Howth.
But the Baron was busy, he was having lunch at that time. And the
castle gates were closed in front of the pirate queen. Then Grinne
O'Malley kidnapped the grandson and heir of X Baron Howth. The
granddaughter was released on condition that the castle gates would
always be open to unexpected visitors and there would always be an
extra seat at the castle at each meal. At Howth Castle, this
agreement is still celebrated.
Howth Castle in cinema
In filmmaking, Howth Castle was portrayed as the fictitious Galoran
Castle in Roger Corman and Frances Ford Coppola's film Madness 13,
where the film was the scene of numerous scenes. In addition, the
castle appears in scenes of spaghetti westerns: the characters Duck
and your Lollipop were shot here.
Land of Howth
Once upon a time, Howth Castle stood in a very picturesque place,
which was described very poetically in 1892 by Rosa Mulgolland. In
recent years, as a result of development, the beautiful landscape
has been completely destroyed. The beautiful gardens and plantations
of beech, rhododendrons that were planted here in 1710 were
destroyed. Since 2016, the castle has been organizing excursions on
the theme: "King George's Kitchen." The National Museum of Transport
of Ireland is located on the castle grounds. The museum presents
various vehicles of different times, including the Hill-Gaut tram
number 9.
Howth Castle in literature
In 1939, James Joyce's novel Finnegan's Wake was published. This
novel mentions the Castle of Howth and Environs (PGI), which is
understood to mean Dublin. The abbreviation OGE appears in many
contexts in the novel, including the name of the main character of
the novel - Humphrey Chimpden Erwicker (in English all the initial
letters are the same as those in OGE).